Conquerors of the Antarctic. A Russian film about the expedition to Vostok lake won the prize of scientific film festival

02:52,
22 May 2017

55

Share:

Today, “Akademic Fyodorov” ship has returned to St. Petersburg. The scientific research vessel has brought participants of the 62nd expedition – those who spend the winter at polar stations. The specialist worked at the well of a relic lake Vostock

Реклама

The arrival of “Akademic Fyodorov” coincided with the premiere of a new film about the conquerors of the South Pole. Evgeniy Solovyev met those who starred in it

The documentary by Ekaterina Ermenko covers the entire history of the polar station in just 90 minutes. There's not a word of the author’s narrative. Everything happening on the screen depicts the everyday hard labor of those conquering the Antarctic. Those who have come very close to resolving the mystery of one of the most mysterious geographic sites – the Vostok lake

Evgeniy Solovyev, reporter: “Its existence was foreseen buy Andrey Kapitsa. And this forecast was built on the theory of critical weight of icebergs, in essence meaning that the ice cape would be melting, on it lower border, as soon as it reaches a certain thickness. That's how water is gathering into a rock-solid state. This is how the largest under-ice lake came into fruition. I need to receive its name first after the Soviet, and now after a Russian polar station”

It was already described as one of the most significant geographic discoveries of the second half of the 20th century. The Russian polar explorers have reached the well, in which all evolution processes have been happening for millions of years in full isolation from the outside world. All according to its own, only God knows what kind of, scenario. And Ekaterina Eremenko became the first woman in the world to not only visit the station, but to witness the historic moment with her own eyes.

Hooray! We did this!

The film depicts the real heroes, who would never acknowledge their hero-like status, calling it simply “their job”. And the main thing that makes Ekaterina proud, is that she has managed to show that these people’s deeds without any superlatives

Ekaterina Eremenko, film-maker: “These people are wonderful, and I hope you can see that in the film. I worship them, I love them, and they're all completely different. If it wasn't for these people, Russia would've never been the first there. Overall, that was a race for the Antarctic, who would be the first to reach that lake. And our specialists, braving the hardest conditions in which they're forced to work in, and with the lack of any high tech - they still managed to beat everyone to it”

The Vostok station will celebrate its 60th birthday this year, and for many scientists it has been fate-defining. So close it is to many, that every expedition is anticipated very strongly.

Vladimir Lipenkov, participant of polar expeditions: “When I came to Vostok for the first time, I was only 26 years old. Now, obviously, a lot older. And you go there not only because you're interested in science. You understand that you are at the forefront of something, primarily because this is a special place which attracts you

Having barely returned, they are getting ready for another trip. The new expedition to unsolve mysteries of Vostok will head out in November, and maybe it will be then that the complete solution to the mystery of the world’s most mysterious lake will become closer